Page 59 of Love, Academically
“By what?” Dan asked, bobbing under his arm and jabbing him in the ribs. “Or, by who?”
“Whom,” Rhys corrected, trying to get a kick in to force Dan back and give him a bit more space.
Dan stopped bouncing and grinned at him.
“What?” Rhys grumbled. “Get your guard up.”
Dan did as he was told and Rhys landed a solid round kick to his mid-section.
If anyone could help, it was Dan.
“It’s Lila.” Rhys threw a jab. “Miss Cartwright.”
“I know who she is.” Dan smirked.
“She’s just in the way all the time. I can’t stop—” Rhys bit down on his words.
“Thinking about her?” Dan offered. “Looking at her?”
Rhys’s eyes closed and he tightened his jaw , hanging his head.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. She’s a pretty girl.”
“Woman,” he said, absently.
“What?”
“She’s a woman, not a girl.”
Dan laughed, and headed over to the side of the mats to swig on his bottle of water. There were more breaks than normal because of the copious amounts of sweat that dripped down their faces. A cold shower would be incredibly nice (and fucking welcome) when he got home later.
“So, you like her, yeah?”
“She’s nice. Yes, I like her.”
“You know what I’m asking,” Dan said, lifting his eyebrow at him.
Rhys stared over Dan’s shoulder. He wasn’t so socially inept that he didn’t know what Dan was asking. He knew, all right.
Sure, he was attracted to her. Who wouldn’t be? But Dan was wrong; Lila was more than pretty. She was beautiful. Even in that yellow and blue dress that she was wearing today, which was perfectly hideous, but somehow suited her smile. Although how anything could suit a smile was beyond him.
Rhys had enjoyed sitting with her at the weekend. It was nice, with no expectation of conversation, no expectation of anything really. She was comfortable and she had listened to him so well. Lila had made an extremely uncomfortable situation almost palatable. Best of all, she didn’t judge, she encouraged. Whatever path he chose, whatever he decided to do with his life, the only thing that Lila wanted for him (and for everyone, it seemed) was for them to be happy.
Selfless. That was a good word to describe her. Generous with her smiles and selfless to a fault. Otherwise, she wouldn’t still be paying the loan that prick took out with repayments coming from her account. Something would need to be done about thatat some point, because it wasn’t right. Was it even legal? If she’d signed it, then yeah. But now they weren’t together any longer and he was a big-shot hospital doctor, he could damn well pay for his own fucking loans.
“You’ve got it bad,” Dan said with a laugh.
“I haven’t got anything,” he mumbled.
But Dan was right. Having a bit of a thing for Lila would explain his sweaty palms and his inability to look anywhere else when she was near him. A bit of a thing. Yes, that was it. A thing. But only a bit.
“It’s all right, man. Don’t worry about it,” Dan said, pushing his water bottle top down to close it. “I saw it coming a mile off.”
“What?”
“You were protective over her that night we met her and Jasmeet,” Dan said with a shrug.
